{{Short description|Islamic jurist of the Abbasid era}}
{{Infobox religious biography | religion = Islam | <!-- Scroll down to edit this page --> <!-- Philosopher Category --> era = Islamic golden age <br> (Abbasid era) | denomination = Sunni | jurisprudence = Maliki<ref name=":0" /> | name = Sahnun ibn Said ibn Habib al-Tanukhi | image = | birth_date = 776–7 CE (160 AH) | death_date = 854–5 CE (240 AH) | ethnicity = | region = | notable_ideas = | main_interests = Hadith and Fiqh | works = Al-Mudawwana| }}
'''Sahnun ibn Said ibn Habib al-Tanukhi''' ({{Langx|ar|سحنون بن سعيد بن حبيب التنوخي|}}) (c. 776/77 – 854/55) (160 AH – 240 AH ) was a jurist in the Maliki school from Qayrawan in modern-day Tunisia.
==Biography== His full name was '''Abu Said Abd al-Salam ibn Said ibn Habib ibn Hassan ibn Hilal ibn Bakkar ibn Rabia al-Tanukhi''' ({{Lang|ar|أَبُو سَعِيدٍ عَبْدِ السَّلَامِ بْنُ سَعِيدِ بْنِ حَبِيبِ بْنِ حَسَّانَ بْنِ هِلَالِ بْنِ بَكَّارِ بْنِ رَبِيعَةَ التَّنُوخِيُّ}}). He gained the nickname '''Saḥnūn''' (a type of sharp bird) because of his quickness of mind.<ref name=":0">{{Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|volume=8|title=Saḥnūn|page(s)=843-845|first=Mohamed|last=Talbi|authorlink=Mohamed Talbi|url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/EIEO/SIM-6476.xml?rskey=k7yScZ&result=1&ebody=abstract%2Fexcerpt|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_6476}}</ref> He was born to an Arab family that originated in Syria, his father was a soldier from Homs in present-day Syria.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Citation |last=Hopley |first=Russell |title=Sahnun, Abu Said al-Tanukhi |date=2011-01-01 |work=Dictionary of African Biography |editor-last1=Akyeampong |editor-first1=Emmanuel K. |editor-link=Emmanuel K. Akyeampong |editor-last2=Gates |editor-first2=Henry Louis |editor-link2=Henry Louis Gates Jr. |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195382075.001.0001/acref-9780195382075-e-1786 |access-date=2024-03-08 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195382075.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-538207-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He was from the tribe of Tanukh.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Powers|first1=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tcBSAQAAQBAJ&q=Sahnun+tanukh&pg=PA67|title=Islamic Legal Thought: A Compendium of Muslim Jurists|last2=Spectorsky|first2=Susan|last3=Arabi|first3=Oussama|date=2013-09-25|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-25588-3|language=en}}</ref>
In his youth Sahnun studied under the scholars of Qayrawan and Tunis. In particular, he learned from the Tripolitanian scholar `Ali bin Ziyad, who had learned from Imam Malik. In 178 AH he traveled to Egypt to study under other pupils of Malik, who died before Sahnun had the financial means to reach them. Later on he continued to Medina and studied under other prominent scholars, returning to North Africa in 191 AH.<ref name=":1">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Saḥnūn |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Islam First Edition |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/EI1O/SIM-5065.xml?rskey=TLks08 |last=Krenkow |first=Fritz |author-link=Fritz Krenkow |editor-last=Houtsma |editor-first=Martijn Theodoor |editor-link=Martijn Theodoor Houtsma |volume=4|doi=10.1163/2214-871X_ei1_SIM_5065 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Upon accepting the appointment as a jurist, he was said to have told his daughter Khadija, "Today your father has been slain without a knife." He was known to be scrupulous in his judgments and courteous towards litigants and witnesses, but strict towards the men surrounding the emir; he refused to allow them to send representatives on their behalf in litigation, and refused a request from the emir not to interfere in their illegal ventures.<ref name=":1" />
Sahnun's son Muhammad ibn Sahnun (d. 256/870) was also a noted jurist, composing the collection of ''nawāzil'' entitled ''Nawāzil al-ṣalāt min Dīwān Muḥammad ibn Saḥnūn''.<ref name=":11">Ed., 'Nāzila', in P. Bearman (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online (EI-2 English). Brill . (2012). https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_5873.</ref>
==Theological Views== Sahnun was known {{By whom|date= February 2013}} for his strong orthodoxy, even to the point of refusing to pray behind a Mu'tazilite imam. He excluded heretical sects from the mosque, including the Ibadi, Mu'tazilites and others. The ''Encyclopedia of Islam'' states:<blockquote>Hitherto, in the multiple circles of scholarship, representatives of all tendencies were able to express themselves freely in the Great Mosque of Kairouan. In a process amounting to a purging of the community of scholars there, Sahnun put an end to this "scandal". He dispersed the sects of the ''ahl al-bida''; the leaders of heretical sects were paraded ignominiously, and some were compelled to recant in public. Sahnun was one of the greatest architects of the exclusive supremacy of Sunnism in its Maliki form throughout the Muslim West.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>
== References == <references/>
==External links== * [http://bewley.virtualave.net/mad1.html Excerpt from Qadi `Iyad's ''Tartib al Madarik''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516203037/http://bewley.virtualave.net/mad1.html |date=2008-05-16 }} {{Maliki scholars}} {{Authority control}}
Category:854 deaths Category:770s births Category:8th-century Arab people Category:9th-century Arab people Category:Arab scholars Category:9th-century Muslim theologians Category:People from Kairouan Category:Tanukh Category:Tunisian imams Category:Maliki scholars from al-Maghrib Category:Tunisian Sunni Muslims Category:Year of birth uncertain